Racing the Clock
by AlchemicAngel19
Summary: A mix of aspects from both Sonic '06 and Sonic Rivals 2's stories. 200 years into the future, the world has been destroyed and only a hedgehog by the name of Silver is there to fight for it. But he's losing hope, and his only option is to trust the mysterious Mephiles, and travel back to the past with the chance of saving the world before it's destruction. This is an OCxCC story!
1. Prologue

For every day that passes, it always seems to leave a new struggle to endure in life as a parting gift. Whether it's the struggle to find food, a suitable place to live, or overall just trying to get out of bed, every day brings something new to this diverse and not so pleasant table.

And there is only one factor I can blame for this mess.

"Venice!" I feel my body being shaken by two little hands, a very young and little voice that pairs with them. "He's back again! Iblis is back again!"

My blue-green eyes open and they meet with a pair of frightened but determined golden eyes. I reach up and ruffle his quills a bit as I get out of bed. "Don't worry Silver, we'll take care of him, like we always do." My voice is definitely tired, but reassuring. I even manage to put a smile on my face for him.

His hands clench into fists, and he nods. "You're right, big brother! Let's get him!" Then he ran out of my room. Actually I can't say it's mine….because he lives in it too. It's not even really a house, just a decimated shack we found to live in, until it's completely destroyed, and we have to move yet again.

It breaks my heart that a six year old kid like Silver has to endure such conditions. He should have a home, an actual home; one he can step outside of and see the sun and beautiful skies, not eternal darkness and the roars of a fire demon that always finds his way back after being defeated.

Even I know I should be able to have those things at my age of eleven…but that is a luxury neither one of us are granted in this forsaken world. I can't even remember the last time I truly saw the sun, the white clouds and the blue skies outside of the occasional- for the most part, almost miraculously intact- picture book he and I find. If I've ever truly seen it with my own eyes.

The kid doesn't even have parents. Neither do I. I'm not really his big brother; he's not really my little brother. But in this world, blood ties are the last thing that truly matters- family can be born from anyone and out of any circumstance. And Silver's the only family I have; I've sworn to protect him with my life since the day I met him some four years ago, when he was just a little toddler hiding in an alleyway, scared of the demon that runs rampant in our city.

Now instead of hiding, we fight him head on, hoping that one day all our hard work will pay off and Iblis will fall for good. It hasn't happened yet, but if we lose hope, we lose everything. Hope is the only thing that gets us up in the morning. At least, it's the only thing that encourages me to climb out of bed, other than Silver himself.

Pulling my boots and gloves on, which were carelessly tossed in a corner the night before, I run out after the young hedgehog, not needing to ask where he was headed. Iblis was always in the same place, in a crater near the heart of the city.

Running up beside him, we both stared at the giant lava monster that looked down upon us with the brightest jade green eyes you could ever see. Actually it was pretty intimidating, but that didn't stop the two of us.

"Iblis!" Silver screamed as he grabbed two huge boulders nearby with his psychokinesis, throwing them at the demon's head. "You big ugly monster! Go away!"

I followed his example, grabbing what I could and throwing it at the creature, sans the insults. To anyone else, they would've sounded pathetic, but he is a kid after all. An angry one at that; they can't expect excellent one liners.

The demon roared angrily, trying to send attacks back at the both of us, which we managed to easily dodge. If there was one thing we had to our advantage, it's that Iblis was pretty predictable with his attack patterns, so we were always able to make short work of them.

Eventually, after several boulder thrashings later, the monster had taken enough damage and retreated back down into the lava pit that resided in the crater. We watched until he was completely gone; at least for the moment.

"You did good today Silver. He went away quicker than he has in a while." I said after a moment, happy now that Iblis had retreated. It would take him a while to regain strength and health, so things were as peaceful as they could be for the moment.

Instead of hearing anything else in return, all I heard were little tearful noises. My head snapped over in that direction and I saw the young hedgehog on his knees, head in his hands as he cried. Instantly I felt my protective nature set in tenfold, and I ran to his side, falling to my knees beside him and pulling him into my arms.

"Hey, what's wrong little brother?" My hand ghosted over his head, petting him soothingly before I heard him hiccup from his sobs. "He's never gonna go away big brother." He mumbled, putting his face in my chest fur, using it to soak up his tears. "That evil monster will never go away."

My heart sank, because deep down I'd had those thoughts myself, but I always pushed them aside in favor of my hope. I couldn't expect the same of Silver, he was just a child. He should be worried about other things, not the fate of his world.

"Shh….Silver, he will go away one day." My voice was quiet; I only prayed it sounded reassuring, as my arms held him tighter. "He will go away for good someday; we'll make him go away together. And then you won't have to worry about him anymore."

At first I didn't hear anything in response, until my eyes opened and I saw his own staring up at me, tear stricken but almost with a little tiny glimmer of hope within them. "You promise Venice?"

My smile returned and I nodded. "I promise."

_(AN: This is the only chapter of the entire story that's in first-person perspective, aside from a paragraph or two in the next chapter. The person speaking here is Venice, my only male lead out of my entire Sonic character lineup. Yes, I derived his name from Silver's prototype, yes he's hails from the future, and yes he's Silver's older brother __(albeit adoptive__; I know full well I'm not the first person to do that, I'm sure I won't be the last), but sue me. Silver deserves to have a friend that is not Blaze (she has her own backstory guys; sorry, but as much as I love her, I absolutely loathe how SEGA put her in '06), so yeah. Hope you enjoyed the prologue, next chapter on is completely focused on Silver and his journey. Read and review please!)_


	2. Chapter 1

The sound of a loud roar made Silver's ears ring, as he scrambled out of bed, still half asleep, yanking his boots on and clasping his cuffs around his wrists, taking off out the door of the shack he called his home. There were certain times, when he wasn't in such a terrible mood, that he would joke to himself that while alarm clocks usually beeped, his roared at him.

But today he was in anything but a good mood. Nobody but him knew why; then again there wasn't really anyone he knew, or anyone around to question him.

It was the same old, same old routine really. Fight Iblis, search the city for food or little treats like a beaten up, but still readable book, search for possible survivors, fight Iblis again, drag himself back to his shack to collapse on his bed and hopefully manage a few hours of uninterrupted sleep, then do it all over again.

Time wasn't something he was fully aware of in his world; everywhere he went it always seemed to be light out, because of the reflecting glare of the flames and lava ravaging his city. He was used to it; he was fifteen now, and thirteen of those years he'd been aware of his surroundings.

Moments passed as he ran up to the fire demon, residing in his crater in the heart of the city, per the norm- a few more went by as he pelted him with rocks, shouting insults as if it were going to help to make him go away, and soon enough he did retreat.

But even after any trace of the demon coming back was gone for the moment, he stood there, staring into the pool of lava inside the crater, then suddenly his head shot up. He thought he heard a voice; a familiar voice, and then he whirled around, darting his head every way he could think of, looking for the source. When there was no sign of who had the voice he heard, his ears fell and he sighed heavily, sinking to his knees.

"C'mon, Silver, if you didn't find him eight years ago, why would you think he'd come back now?" He mumbled to himself, staring blankly into the destroyed and cracked asphalt. Another moment passed, and then he broke down into bitter tears, hands over his face.

_It's never gotten any easier for me. When you live in a world like mine, family is the most important thing; the greatest treasure you could have. And I lost the one person that made up my family, the one person I trusted most and relied on for strength and advice. _

_ I still don't know what happened…he was just there one second, and the next he was gone. I looked everywhere, there was no trace. Whether Iblis got to him or not, all I knew was that my big brother was gone. _

_ Eight years I've dealt with his loss, and it still hurts me as if it just happened. Sometimes I wake up and at first I want to run to his bed and shake him awake when Iblis is attacking, but then all I need is one glance to see that there's an empty void there. I get excited when I find something special; I want to take it home and show him what I found, and the only one that's seeing my find is the air. When I get scared or upset, and want a little comfort, there's nobody. I have to just comfort myself and work through it._

"It hurts…..it hurts so much…" He mumbled again, crying harder as he slammed his fists into the roadway below, tears endlessly streaming down his face. The hedgehog was so numb to anything around him that he didn't notice somebody approach him until they spoke.

"Are you alright?" The figure asked in a deep, almost kind of menacing voice. When Silver looked up, wiping his tears away quickly so he didn't look as pathetic, he came face to face with what looked like a shadow in hedgehog form, his fur was that dark. He had purple-grayish stripes on his quills, and his eyes were a dark jade green.

Silver nodded and looked away. "I'm fine….." He said in a low voice, rising to his feet, and brushing himself off, locking his hurt and sorrow inside. "Just….had a moment of weakness."

"I see." The figure nodded, and looked out to the crater, his arms clasped behind his back. "….I saw you fighting Iblis. Very well done, but I could tell you were struggling a little."

He nodded and looked where he was looking. "I do struggle. He's gotten stronger over the years…..and I used to have help." The silverish hedgehog replied simply, though he had taken on a slightly bitter tone.

"So I've noticed." The hedgehog replied, looking to him. "You know…..I have done some research…..and found some information on our little friend here. From what I've read…..I think there might be a way to defeat him…For good."

This startled Silver, and he sharply looked at him, his brother's promise that one day Iblis would eventually fall forever echoing in his head. "A-Are you serious?!" He asked, eagerly, a smile slowly spreading across his face. "T-That's wonderful news!" But then he went back to being serious, and almost a little sad. "I doubt I could do it, though."

"With my help you can." The figure simply replied, walking closer to the crater. "If we can find what caused him to end up in this world in the first place, there might be a way to go back and stop this madness before it even begins." His words intrigued the young hedgehog, and he peered at him curiously.

"If that's really the answer to the problem…..then I will do anything to fix this." Silver replied, clenching his fists, his voice now full of determination. "You're the first person I've met in a long time actually willing to help me. What's your name?"

The hedgehog turned to him, and smiled, a devious gleam in his eyes that seemed to go unnoticed by the psychokinesis wielder. "…Mephiles. My name is Mephiles."

_(AN: It really is a crying shame how bad Sonic '06 turned out. It had so much potential to be one of the best Sonic games out there, but now it's only factor is how infamous it is. And what bugs me most is how people hate Silver because of the game he debuted in. That's an awful reason to hate a character, I'm sorry. For what it's worth, Silver was amazing in that game, and I loved his gameplay style. When I go back and play the game on occasion (because yes, I do own it), I usually play Silver when I'm not playing Sonic's Kingdom Valley. The story could have definitely been better, because overall it was just unbelievably bad (Elise, anyone?), and there were people there that didn't need to be (I'm looking at you Blaze, thanks for destroying her Rush backstory SEGA), but I did really like the concept of Silver's backstory. That's why I'm writing this story, to give him the wonderful storyline he rightfully deserves. Anyway, wall of text aside, hope you enjoyed this, read and review please!)_


	3. Chapter 2

When Mephiles told Silver that he had done some research, the young hedgehog had just automatically assumed in his mind that he had found some books with information on Iblis. What he wasn't expecting to see was a huge underground base just below the city, that while in semi bad condition, still had a perfectly working and running control room with a fairly advanced computer. Not advanced by his timeline's standards, but when it was in its prime, it was most likely one of the most spectacular pieces of technology for the time.

"The things that can survive in a place like this…" He mumbled as the duo walked inside the room, and the darker colored hedgehog walked over to the keyboard of the terminal, pulling up all sorts of pictures and scanned documents of ancient manuscripts. "Here's all the information I've acquired on Iblis." Mephiles said as Silver walked closer, reading up on all the legends about him, all the descriptions of a fiery demon that destroyed the world.

"Yep, that sounds like him alright." The silver-colored hedgehog replied, stunned by all that he was seeing. From what it seemed like, this wasn't the first time Iblis was released. After all, he had to have made an appearance for there to be this kind of information on him.

"This isn't the first time Iblis has appeared." Mephiles said after a moment, confirming the hedgehog's thoughts. "He had also appeared once, thousands of years ago, merely as a fiery demon, causing havoc as he went, though not to this kind of scale. However a very spiritual and a very powerful tribe, using some of their tribal magic and spells, managed to overpower the Ifrit and seal him away in a tomb, one that remained a secret only to them, as they were fearful if anyone ever found the tomb, they would unseal and awaken the demon. However, once the tribe died out, others found that they left behind ancient texts describing him, and as years passed, and technology became more advanced, people began to study whatever documents and manuscripts the tribe left behind, gathering more information. It was mainly just for curiosity's sake, something to study."

Here he paused to give the terminal another command, pulling up more documents. These didn't look ancient, or anything to do with Iblis. "However one man believed if he could find the location of this hidden tomb, and reawaken the Ifrit, he could harness the power for his own purposes; as the tribe that sealed him away was afraid of. And this man was a genius- it was always said he had an IQ of 300. It took a while by his standards, but eventually he did find the place Iblis resided, and released him back into the world."

The look on Silver's face was one of shock and anger. "Who was this man?!"

Another command was given by Mephiles, and a picture opened up on the screen of a tall, but very round man, literally, with a red and white military jacket with coattails and golden details, black pants and boots, a huge orange mustache, small, round and blue glasses, and goggles on his head. "His name was Dr. Ivo Robotnik, though the majority of people called him by his given nickname, Dr. Eggman."

"But why would he do something like this?!" The young hedgehog cried out in anguish, slamming his hands onto an empty side of the terminal.

"He figured if he reawakened the demon, he could use him to take over the world, as that was always his goal. And he was willing to use any means to achieve his goal." Mephiles said calmly. "But like anything, if you cut it off from its power source, it won't be as strong as it once was. The doctor knew this long before he released the Ifrit, and he went back over the manuscripts he found…according to what was written, the demon fed on Chao to grow strength."

"You mean those tiny adorable creatures I saw in a book once?" Silver asked, looking to him. "The little animals that lived in gardens?"

"Precisely. But in ancient times, the Chao roamed about freely. Hence why Iblis was able to gain strength so quickly back then. Evidently he wasn't that powerful though if the tribe was able to seal him away as easily as they did. In Eggman's time, he had to resort to kidnapping Chao from their gardens and feeding them to the demon as one might feed a pet."

"And now look at him." The psychokinetic wielder said hopelessly, hanging his head. "Even though there's no Chao to speak of now, the world's already ruined. He won, he's too strong for me to do hardly any damage." _So Venice was wrong…this is a fight we-….I will never win…._

"Now." Mephiles said, holding a hand up. "But as I said, there is a way to stop this before it ever happens. All you need to do is travel back into the past, and prevent Eggman from ever releasing Iblis. If you can do that, your world will be saved."

"How?!" Silver asked eagerly, shooting up. Then he felt something being pressed into his hand. When he looked down, it was a glittering purple stone.

"This is a Time Stone." Mephiles replied. "This gem has the power to control time. You can manipulate it's power to travel to different points in time. With this you can travel back to a point before Eggman releases Iblis, and stop him from doing so. It will also help if you collect Chao and hide them. Without fuel, even if Iblis gets released before you can stop him, he will have nothing to get stronger, and you can easily reseal him."

"…I don't know what to say. To think…" The younger hedgehog said in awe, staring at the gem. "…A bright, happy, peaceful future…" His fingers tightened around the Stone. "I must continue to fight for the future. I will restore the world!"

"Then I wish you luck on your journey Silver. To use the Time Stone, all you need to say are two words- Chronos Control." He pulled up a date and location on the terminal. "Think of this date and place…..then focus and send yourself back to a point before then."

Silver nodded, and gave him one last glance. "…..Thank you for everything Mephiles." Then he held the purple gem in both his hands, and after a moment of focusing, and a flash of light, he was gone.

The next time the hedgehog opened his eyes, the scenery he saw was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Instead of decimated streets and lava filled craters, there was a grainy substance beneath his feet. Instead of a dark sky filled with clouds, the sky was a gorgeous shade of light blue and the yellow sun hung above.

And instead of endless stretches of rock formations with lava flowing over them, there was a strip of crystal clear water, aquamarine color. Behind him was a perfectly intact town, bright and happy, with people all around laughing and smiling. Silver truly felt like he was in heaven.

"This is so unbelievable….." He said breathlessly, tears blurring his vision. "This is a world I always imagined…" Then he made a fist and turned back, to face the small town. "I will save my future…..I will make my world look like this." With that he ran off, his legs carrying him as fast as they could, the drive to save his world making him run faster.

_(AN: To Sonic Rivals 2 credit, it was a pretty great game, and so was the story...except for one glaring thing. Eggman Nega being the villain. Actually that's my problem with both of the Rivals games, and it's their villain. Eggman Nega is supposed to be BLAZE'S bad guy! He lives in the Sol Dimension, he's Eggman's counterpart, not his descendant! Damnit SEGA, quit trying to destroy everything the Rush games established! First you completely destroy Blaze's entire backstory by putting her needlessly in Sonic '06, and now this! ...Ugh. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.)_


End file.
